The Beagle to heel

Press, 26 October 1984, Page 16

The Beagle to heel

From “The Economist,” London

Disputes over rocks in the South . Atlantic can be hard to resolve. On / October 5, however, Argentina and Chile agreed to end their quarrel overjhree usually uninhabited Lennox and Nueva, in the Beagle Channel at the windswept tip of Tierra del Fuego. Under the deal, the Chileans will get the. islands, while the Argentines, will vv have -oil and . mineral rights on part of the continental shelf to the south and east. The concession of these rights by Chile will also widen Argentina’s claim to Antarctic territory. The Vatican mediated in the dispute. An earlier attempt to resqlve it in 1977 through arbitration by a group of international jurists acting in the name of the British crown was rejected by Argentina. The jurists, too, had awarded the islands to Chile, without conceding a share of the continental shelf to Argentina. Argentina had originally claimed all islands on the Atlantic side of South America, insisting that Chile was a purely Pacific power. The Chileans, however;' have run flags up and down over the islands since they landed there a century ago. In 1978, Chile and Argentina mobilised their forces on both sides of the Andes; the Pope stepped in to offer his ser-' vices as peacemaker. For Chile’s President Pinochet, unencumbered by a Parliament, honour is satisfied. Argentina’s President Alfonsin will have a rougher ride getting the agreement through his Parliament. He has promised to submit the treaty to a referendum although he has not promised to abide by the result. The settlement of the Beagle Channel dispute could act as a precedent for negotiations between Argentina -and Britain over the Falklands. Mr Pierre Aubert, the Swiss foreign minister, visited

Buenos Aires last week to suggest to his ARgentine counterpart, Mr Dante Caputo, that last July’s aborted talks in Bern be resumed. Another Latin American border dispute in which Britain is involved has inched towards a settlement. It has been revealed that Britain had agreed in principle to reopen consular relations with Guatemala. In 1981 these were broken off after Guatemala had reiterated its claim to the former British colony of Belize. Britain’s foreign Minister, Sir Geoffrey Howe, met the Guatemalan Foreign Minister, Mr Fernando Andrade, on September 29 to try to sort out the details of exchanging consuls. This may open

the way for talks over the territory. Guatemala has grown less belligerent as it moves from military rule to democracy. The Guatemalans have hinted . that they are ready to drop their claim to the whole territory in exchange for a strip which would give them an outlet to the Caribbean. Belize rejects any territorial concession. Britain continues to maintain a garrison there to deter Guatemala. The United States, which wants Guatemala to mop up its guerrillas and shudders at the thought of another Falklands war, has been urging both sides to settle. Copyright, “The Economist,” London.